1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to the data processing field, and, more particularly, to a method, apparatus and system for analyzing and reporting the status of an adapter in a data processing system.
2. Description of Related Art
When a problem occurs in an adapter in a data processing system, various diagnostic procedures can be performed to capture data needed to analyze and correct the problem. For example, when an adapter problem is encountered, a developer or a manufacturer may wish to dump specific controller chip registers or configuration registers on the adapter, or to change the values of certain registers, to see if the problem will disappear; or, at least, to obtain a better understanding of the nature of the problem.
The mechanisms required to dump controller chip registers or configuration registers, or to perform other diagnostic procedures needed to analyze an adapter problem, however, are normally not included in the device driver for the adapter because these mechanisms are not needed for normal adapter operation. Accordingly, in order to properly analyze an adapter problem, a manufacturer or a developer is often required to modify the adapter's device driver so as to provide the necessary mechanisms to allow the desired diagnostic procedures to be performed.
Often, more than one version of a device driver must be provided to enable an adapter problem to be fully analyzed. For example, during debugging of a system under development, a developer is often required to provide numerous versions of a device driver in order to capture all the data needed to fully understand and solve a particular problem; and this can become a very time consuming task.
In addition, if an adapter problem occurs on a machine that is located in the field, such as at a customer's facility, the customer often must physically remove the adapter from the machine and send it back to the manufacturer in order to have the problem analyzed and corrected. This can result in delays in correcting the problem and cause significant inconvenience to the customer.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method and apparatus for analyzing and reporting the status of an adapter.